Near the Void
by AnonymousWrite
Summary: Spoilers! Frisk fell into the Void, only knowing what she did to everyone and not remembering who Chara is. Frisk stays in the Void ten years before Chara frees her, and when Sans finds her what will he think? Will things be different for her or for him? We will only find out in one way. - Rated M for later chapters - FemFriskxSans Male Chara Cover by Aquinah Disclaimer within
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Undertale, nor shall I ever. This story and game belongs to the wonderful Toby Fox. Thank you so much for introducing this game to us Toby, great job.

A/N -

This is only the start of the story, just a little background before I hit the true plot. I hope you enjoy this first fic of mine.

-Anon

Ch. 0

Frisk - My eyes open to soulless darkness, not a soul near at all. I intake a breathe, expecting to feel a chill in the air, but instead I am greeted by nothing. The air in my lungs didn't seem to exist and involuntarily my breathing sped up, hoping it would be different and yet every time it wasn't. Eventually my breath caught and a lump formed to punctuate the tears threatening to overcome my Determination on staying calm and rational. Time seemed to be in a simultaneous state of rest and speeding forward blindingly. I don't know how long I stayed there, or if I were to ever come out but I eventually stopped trying to understand why I felt nothing and saw nothing no matter how far I ran. Emptiness loomed and looped around me where I tried to go.

Sans - Determination. Right now my own determination kept the cold and fatigue out of mind. I search all of the underground for her, in my mind I know I wont find the quiet child no matter where I look. Frisk isn't on this plane any longer and I should just stop. _NO!_ I shout mentally at myself, the light of anger glowing brightly in my left eye, ' _You mustn't stop looking. It doesn't matter if_ he _got her, you_ will _keep looking and you_ will _find her.'_ I continue my fruitless endeavor, hoping for some sort of hope but eventually Papyrus finds me and drags me home, doing what he hates and uses magic to bind me in an orange glow from neck down. I do not resist, the hopeless cold seeps into my mind and settles there with a cold, icy grip of depression.

\- Many years pass, Frisk grows inside the void and becomes an adult. Memories haunt her, giving her blips of light in the beginning, but slowly turning into her own torture as she is helpless to make new memories with her friends. She eventually stopped fighting the depression pressed into her with each moment she spends of her eternity.

\- Sans has ceased his puns, no longer talking to his brother or Toriel or anymonster in fact. Sans completes his duties each day methodically, never taking a break from dawn to dusk. It seems to the others that way, but _I know._ Sans doesn't stop looking for Frisk even over the span of ten years. Each day he goes out in search of her only to come up empty. His brother and friends knew never to mention humans to him, especially one specific human.

Here is where our story begins...


	2. Chapter 2

Frisk - I feel a familiar jolt of energy pass through me, it comes every now and then when I began to feel death approaching. I learned what it was in my first hundred rests, that's what I use to keep time, how many times have I fallen asleep. So far its been 3742, I have nothing else to do so why not keep track of how long this torture plagued me? I tried to fall back into slumber, closing my eyes only for comforts sake. I counted in my breaths. _One, two, three, four, five, six..._ a face from my past flashed behind my closed eyelids, warped by time but still knowable anywhere. My "Mother" smiled at me and unwarranted tears leaked from my eyes, dampening my cheeks.

 _No, no. Don't think...just sleep._ _One, two three fou..._ and again, a face popped in. Memories rolled through my mind, the sharp tang of ketchup and the sound of low laughter played in my mind. _Sans..._ More tears now, and from there I couldn't stop them or my thoughts. Puns crossed my mind and clenched my heart in the hot grip of the darkness. The once happy thoughts had grown dark with the inability to grow and flourish with life's nourishment. I watched my friends in my mind, scenarios pass through like movies and they show me what "happened" after I disappeared, or died, I'm not sure which. Mom falls back in love with Asgore, but not right away. It takes months for him to persuade Mom to hang out at all. But with that little leeway Asgore apologized and earned his forgiveness, now he lived with Toriel in a house Aboveground.

Sans had kept up his routine of puns and keeping eyes out for Toriel and the others, never letting on his secret to them. I know it, however each time I try to remember it I'm met by resistance. For that reason alone my determination was sparked each time I thought of the lovable skeleton and I tried to remember his secret. The resistance meets me full force again, pushing my mind away from such thoughts and attempting to make me forget why I even wanted to know. My determination pushes back, demanding the hidden knowledge from the recesses of my mind.

"Interesting..." A low, soft voice echoes in my mind. "I didn't think your determination would last this long..." the voice said again, my body locked in fear. After so long with nothing but the sound of my breathing and my voice, recently not even that either, hearing something made me more than frightened and a little happy at the same time.

"W-What?" My own voice cracks the air after a few seconds of silence and the fear that the melancholy and monotony would return ceased me. "W-Who are you?" I croak, hoping for a response.

"Your determination is admirable, I will give you that." The response came, "Why do you still try to fight? Why do you keep yourself alive?" The words ring in my ears, bringing confusion with each syllable.

 _I_ have been keeping myself alive? B...But how? I recall how each time I thought I was taking my last breath and right before the surge of energy filled my cells I would feel my heart stutter with fear.

"I...I don't know." I responded to the incorporeal voice.

"Well I'll tell you what, Frisk, I will free you from here but in return I ask a small price." The voice gave a low chuckle, haunting in the void's emptiness.

"And what would that be?" I asked, husky tone leveling out a bit and allowing my voice to come out without stutters.

"A small token, really. You wont even miss them, I want just a few memories."

I laughed, a throaty sound that sounded alien to my ears, "Just a few memories? That's all? Sure, take the damned things. I don't need them, they're just haunting reminders of this place."

"Great," The voice said, something coloring its bass tones but not something I could name. "I'll take them then." I felt the sensation of battle tear my soul from my body and the four buttons of my past floated before me. Without a moment to act I was whisked into battle with a faceless boy, not a word was spoken and each time I was hit by his attacks a memory flashed through my mind before disappearing. The images made no sense, why was Sans attacking me? Then it was gone. Why was Papyrus dead? Then that too was gone. Why is Toriel bleeding? Now that's gone as well. With each memory leaving me I feel a part of my being disappearing. But maybe that wasn't a bad thing.

As my hp bar becomes fully red my eyes close and a pushing sensation covers my body as my soul returns to my body. Unconsciousness washes over me and I blissfully drift to the sleep I craved before.


	3. Chapter 3

Sans - Since her disappearance there's been a permanent shadow covering the edges of my vision, and I can't find it in myself to joke or laugh with anyone without being reminded of _her._ I'm out doing my routine, Ruins first then Toriel's to have tea and pie, after that trudge through Snowdin and talk to the locals, take a trip through Waterfall with haste and see if the flowers echo anything. Finally Hotland where I have dinner with Alphys and talk before checking the portal to Aboveground where most everyone lives now, even Toriel and Alphys do but they entertain me by being below for me. With a soft huff I shuffle home, another day without signs of the human or trouble. No monster dares mention Frisk, mental cringe at recalling her name, to me nor do we talk about humans. This is all distractions from the shadow that closes in on my everyday life for the past ten years. Monsters don't age the same as the humans do, we found out, and each of this group looked the same but with a little maturing in our personalities evidence from the Human's time with us.

Shaking my skull to clear away those plaguing thoughts I instead concentrate on the ground crunching under my feet. I'm about halfway through Waterfall now and I can see the castle in the distance. My eyes look at the looming castle and I know it has been abandoned by the King in favor of living with his love Aboveground. A set of bony hands comes up to cover my eye sockets, digging tips of my fingers in and trying to clear out the anger and sadness that followed me like a dog after a bone. These feeling plagued me as they did everyone else, but _they didn't remember._ I remembered the last time I saw Frisk, before the _Demon_ took a hold of her. Her smile at the sunrise was etched in my mind as well as the look of malice left by _him._

I know that he has something to do with her disappearance, and I will find out what!

 _Snap!_

A sharp echo snaps my attention from my inner monologue right before I and thrown back by an invisible force. Cyan tints my vision with rage and magic surges to the tips of my phalanges, lighting them bright blue as I prepare a defensive strike. The magic fades when nothing comes into view, no attackers readying for the kill nor do I feel the crackle of magic tinging the air anymore. I get to my feet and pop a few joints into a more comfortable position while walking forward to investigate the area that the explosion had resonated from.

A small clearing full of purple and red flowers bloom in the trickle of light leaking down through cracks in the ceiling. The light didn't just light the flowers, but also a small form resting in the middle of the ring of flora. Curiosity pulls me toward the little monster and as I approach I only see a bit of blue from the pants it wears and an unkempt mass of brown fur, or maybe hair? Only when I reach down to check the monster do I notice that the fallen figure wasn't a monster but actually a human. Eye sockets widen as the familiar purple and blue sweater comes into view, torn and small on the human but still the same.

"N...No!" My feet stumble and I trip back, falling onto the flowers beneath me.


	4. Chapter 4

Sans - Frisk. Older in appearance, but still the unmistakable face of the child that had stolen the hearts of every monster in the underground was curled before me soundless. "H...Wh...No. This isn't real. She's not here, How could she be?" Outraged I stood, preparing to launch the nightmare disguised dream across the clearing when it stirred. The form didn't move much, just enough to expose the length of its body and expose just how thin she was. I confirmed her gender by the two lumps slightly exposed under the too-small sweater. With a blush I decide to leave the figure there and retrieve help, but not before covering the body with my over-sized jacket first.

Frisk - My body ached, but not in the usual ways. Not the hunger pains that only went away when the jolt of energy rejuvenated my life force every few sleep cycles, nor the torturous pain of memories pounding their way through my mind. This was a pain I hadn't felt in a long time, the ache of sore muscles and the stiffness of earth underneath my back. Opening my eyes slightly I'm bombarded with light and I shut them quickly. 'There's light, that's not right. I'm in a void of infinite blackness that sucks away at my very will to live. It must be a dream.' I tell myself as I try to return to rest, but the ground under my fingers feels damp and cool and...real, I realize. I open my eyes to the blinding light and slowly let them adjust. When I can see I look around, without sitting up, that I'm in a cavern and crystals twinkle above me. The source of the light was slivers of moonlight through cracks in the ceiling and were actually quite dim now that I could see properly.

I access myself, no outward wounds just sore muscles, then I try and remember what had happened to me. I only remember blackness and empty air. 'Where am I?' I query unto myself. Everything looks familiar but feels foreign.

"What does this mean?" A soft female voice whispers to my left.

"I...don't know." Retorts a low male tenor from the same direction.

"You're sure it's her?" The woman asks again of the man. He must have replied in a nonverbal way because the next thing I heard was the woman again, "B...But how?" It sounded like a rhetorical question, and it must have been for the man didn't answer. I shifted, closing my eyes so that it appeared that I was resting, and turned toward the voices. That was then that I realized I was covered by something with a little weight. The aroma of cinnamon and magic wafted off the clothes and planted that this wasn't a dream. Dreams didn't have smells, only memories did and this is not something I experienced before the blackness.

I heard footfalls nearing my location before feeling the tingle of magic cocoon my body and lift me into the air. I floated for a few seconds before the sensation of movement pitched me forward. I tried to move, to get away, but found it to be impossible as I was. My body lacked nourishment and energy, all I could do was blink and watch two figures walk in front of me, the male held his had out and it was his magic binding me to their pace.

I examined the other one first, the woman, and noticed that she was familiar to me. The horns curling out of the top of her head and the purple robes that fell over her body could not be mistaken, even after who knows how long of darkness. She was Toriel, my Mother. Tears welled in my eyes and spilled over, rolling down my forehead and into my hair that hung loosely below me. Silently the tears rolled freely as I looked at the other, shorter, form. The smooth surface of his skull dimly reflected the light of the crystals above and the white of his t-shirt bounced the light back brightly as well. 'Where is his jacket?' I asked myself before realizing that that was what donned my body at the moment.

"I don't want bro knowing about this, yet. I'm not sure if it's really her or something else. If it is something else, I don't want Paps getting excited over nothing." The sad tone in Sans' voice made my heart ache and I wanted to say that it really was me, that I'm here and I'm back. However my voice wouldn't do as I commanded and I remain silent in my captivity. This captivity I didn't mind, at least there was light and I wasn't alone!

"Ahh...Yes, I agree. I'll keep this secret until you are sure. But make sure I'm updated." Toriel paused and glanced back at me, seeing my eyes open she stopped and stared. Eyes wide she stepped forward, lifting a paw and stopping short of my cheek.

"Don't." Sans said to Toriel, and she dropped her paw.

"You're right, she might be...not herself." Toriel said, pained expression crossing her face and she turned away from me. My eyes welled with unwanted tears, where the water came from I knew not for I had a tremendous need to drink something, anything.

The remainder of the journey was silent and uneventful and only when we reached a familiar door surrounded by four sets of luminescent mushrooms did we stop. Sans set me on the ground, gently to my surprise, and set to unlocking the door by pressing the mushrooms on and off in a series of what appeared to be a randomized sequence. "How do you know that?" Toriel asked and Sans replied with a silent shrug. The door swung open and revealed a small stone room with a door off to the side. Sans brought me into the room and set me down against a wall. He reached into his shirt and pulled out a bag, supposedly hiding it in his rib-cage, and opened it. The contents held a bottle of water and a plain grilled cheese sandwich cut into four individual pieces. He set them next to me before walking out of the room and shutting the entrance.

Again I was locked away in darkness and I began to panic, had this all been a vivid dream after all? Was I going to go to sleep only to wake up again inside my prison, the bars being the ever present darkness that threatened to crush me each moment I breathed. Only a few seconds had passed before the glowing mushrooms that hid the code lit the inside of this room as well, bringing light to a dark place and dispelling the fear of the darkness from my mind. Able to breathe and get my bearings again I looked down at the water and sandwich, feeling starvation wrenching my gut and the need for food thrusting my hand out and tearing open the plastic container. Before I could blink I had engulfed the first corner of bread and cheese, feeling it hit the hollow pit of my stomach. I downed the last three bits before practically ripping the cap off the water and drinking the clean, cool liquid. With my some food inside of me and water sloshing around in my stomach I looked around, for the first time looking at the walls of my cage.

Small chalk pictures lined parts of the wall, depicting two adult goat monsters with smiles, a smaller goat monster holding hands with a human and smiling. That image sparked a memory to surface, one I had thought long since gone. A goat boy encircle me in his arms, holding me close and crying into my shoulder. Asriel apologized repeatedly to me, saying he was sorry for trying to take my soul. He didn't have long to remain as he was and wanted me to know that no matter what I need to stay determined and be myself.

The irony of that memory hit me, determination was good, sure. But who was I? I spent a long time shut off from the world, not growing and not finding out who I should be. How would I know?


	5. Chapter 5

Frisk - I open my eyes to darkness and fear grips me instantaneously, bringing a cold sweat to my palms and water to my eyes. Only a few seconds pass before a glow of light irrupts from the wooden door to the north of the small room I'm held in. The light brings a sense of relief with it, I'm not _there_ anymore and there is light in my life again. I let my eyes adjust to the light and see Sans standing in the doorway, leaning on it casually. "So...uh...Who are you?"

His question puzzled me, didn't he know? My face must have relayed my thoughts because he sighed, pushing a bony hand across his skull and he took a few steps into the room. "I know who you look like, but...I don't know your soul." Understanding dawned on me and I looked at Sans, his expression serious. I found his manor odd, where was the joking skeleton from her memory? When did he become so serious? The questions answered themselves as I give him a once over with my eyes. He seems older and there's a few cracks in his skull that weren't there when I...disappeared. Unconsciously my hand rises from the ground to touch a prominent crack above his temple. Sans flinches away, cobalt eye glowing bright in the gloom of the cave. "Don't touch me!" He shouts, hand raised with blue magic engulfing the tips of the bones in his hand.

Wordlessly I drop my hand and take a breath to speak. "I...I'm Frisk, I think." Saying my own name was often a comfort in the void, remembering who I was and what I could do became the only thing that could give me peace. "I'm a Human from Above and on my eleventh birthday I fell down a hole, my family took me hiking at Mt. Ebott and I tripped. When I woke up I was in a dark place underground and I met...something..." my voice trailed off as I remembered that day, the day that changed my life. The damp air, the dim light that illuminated my journey, and who was that? I put my head in my hands and tried to understand why I couldn't remember who I met. There's a hole where that person is supposed to be, a blank presence looming in the back of my mind and pushing me to remember.

"H-Hey. Don't do that!" I heard Sans say before he pulled my hands away from my head, bones surprisingly soft and smooth. "Hurting yourself wont help me determine who you are..."

His words shocked me but then I understood when I saw red under my fingernails and felt the sharp pain on my scalp. I started to shake in Sans' grip and I only could see the blood. _I_ had done something to myself, I didn't mean to...but why hadn't I felt it before? What...What was happening?.

Sans sighed and let me go before standing up, "Look, don't hurt yourself over this. I just...I'm weary about this is all. I didn't think you'd come home after so long, so I don't know how to react." He sighed again and I heard a soft _thud_ on the soil next to me before Sans walked out of the room, only pausing to tell me he'd be back tomorrow and that I should rest.


	6. Chapter 6

Sans - I stood outside the door, eye sockets covered and let the blue streams of magic leak out of the holes freely. This was the first time I've cried in the years since Frisk's disappearance. When she disappeared and we looked for her I let my feelings go with tears that night when I was alone, the last one to go home. Now she was back, but she's changed. The look on her face when she was talking about the start of her journey, the panic that flashed in the brown eyes that had held so much patience and love in them once. Where ever she had been had hurt her, stole precious happiness from her and therefore all of the monsters that she had come in contact with. ' _Frisk..._ _'_ my thoughts brought back all of those memories from before, the way she had endured Papyrus' awful puzzles and the soft giggle I got out of her with my terrible puns. Oh how I wish I could turn back time. I'd never let her go, ever.

When I felt enough time had passed I pushed off the rock wall and walked out of the... _Mush-room..._ heh, I chuckled to myself before sighing. Puns was my life before, but now I couldn't make one without remembering the soft giggle of that kid's. ' _She_ _'_ _s back now, though..._ _'_ I remind myself silently, ' _She can laugh at them again._ ' I tell myself, but I don't believe it. The way Frisk had acted in there suggested that it would be a long time before she got anywhere near normal, let alone willing to laugh at awful puns.

"Howdy, Sans!" a small voice greets me when I reach the end of the path leading to the room that Frisk was held in. "I heard that there's something you're keeping from the other monsters, care to share?"

I look down at the source of the voice, the yellow flower grins at me innocently and sways slowly from one side to another. "No." I reply quickly, tempted to step on the nuisance but resisting since he _is_ the prince of the monsters.

"Aw, c'mon pal! It must be big if not even Asgore knows about it!" Flowey calls from behind me before a soft popping sound reveals him again in front of me.

"No, Flowey. Go away." I put my slipper clad foot down right next to the talking flora, making him flinch to the side with a scowl.  
"Okay, Sans. Don't tell me, but I WILL find out!" The yellow demon shouts after me before he disappears under the soil.

"What a pain..." I say to myself, running a bony hand over my skull as I walk away, snow crunching underneath me. Flowey can't spawn in the Mush-room where Frisk is, the soil doesn't support flowers so I feel alright with him knowing where I was coming from. He could send a minion to find out, but only I and Toriel know the code to unlock the door.

' _Why do you care if he finds her? Not like he can do anything as a flower..._ ' I'm told by myself as I walk, and I know that. There's just an uneasy feeling I have, about the yellow scum knowing that Frisk is back, deep in my bones.

Flowey - Sans didn't seem right, there's something new about him in this time-line that I just can't place a petal on. Whenever this sort of thing occurs in the other resets Sans is always the last one to give up. Why should this be different? ' _Because there_ _'_ _s something different with this save._ ' and its true, there is something about this save that didn't sit right. I had surfaced again in my contemplation of Sans' actions and a shadow loomed over me before a low chuckle sent a shiver up my stem.

"Hey, Buddy! You're kinda blocking the light," I say cheerfully as I turn to look at the figure casting the shadow. My eyes widen as I see just who it is and my petals start shaking involuntarily. "B...But how?"

A low chuckle came in response before darkness washed over me.


	7. Chapter 7

Frisk - I thought, remembered, and slept in the time after Sans' visit. There were so many questions I had, for Sans, of my freedom, and towards myself. Two things kept looping around my mind, the empty figure from my memory and the feeling of Sans' bones on my flesh. My wrists still tingled with the memory of his touch, the unexpected warmth and softness of the appendages shocked me but also made sense. Sans is made of magic, so of course he could feel warm and soft. Heat rose to my cheeks as I thought of Sans, the frantic look of magic in his eyes as he yanked my hands away from my head and the soft sigh of resignation he made just before he left had branded themselves in my mind, giving me a new memory to recall along with the old ones that had plagued me in the void.

The door to the small cavern opened, dousing the light of the glowing mushrooms and illuminating me. I looked up, startled, and saw a tall figure shadowed in the doorway. The silhouette was unmistakable as Toriel's, small horns stuck up from the top of her head and her ears were low to the sides of her head. Toriel stood there, not coming closer to me and I stared at her silently.

"F...Frisk?" The goat monster hesitantly spoke to me, "Sans told me to stay away, in-case...you aren't my child anymore. But I can't stay away knowing that you might be you." Toriel entered the room a step and I turned my head down, looking at my knees as they were drawn to my chest. "I don't know what you must be feeling, my child, however I want you to know that I do love you. That could never fade, whether it be ten years or One hundred and ten I could never forget you." I heard her voice hitch before her shadow exits quickly, leaving me alone again. When the door shuts with a soft _thud_ the mushrooms take a few seconds to light and dispel the darkness I'm starting to realize is different from my prison.

"Ten years..." So that's how long I was kept there, I know that I'm not the same as I was before. My shirt is too small and my pants are ripped at the seams on the bottom. That makes me 21 now, I wonder what time of year it is. In the Underground seasons are irrelevant, Snowdin is always snowy and Hotland is always hot.

A small pain in my stomach told me that I was hungry. I remember the items that Sans had brought me when he had visited and I open the brown back that sat next to a standard water bottle. I hadn't looked at it before because my thoughts had been turned other, darker places. Inside the bag was a small bottle of ketchup and a cold burger. I took out the contents and laid them on top of the bag. The food triggers a memory, Sans and I sit in Grillby's and we both have burgers in front of us. Grillby's fire face looks at us in amusement. Sans said something sort of funny before offering me ketchup. The bottle's cap had fallen off and ketchup spilled all over the burger, ruining the food for me. Sans had given me his in exchange for forgiveness for the prank.

I took the top bun off of the burger and checked the ketchup lid before plopping just a little in the middle of the patty. I took my finger and put it in the red sauce before bringing it to my lips and tasting the tart liquid. My eyes close as I savor the taste of ketchup, I hadn't been able to enjoy my first meal but I am determined to enjoy this one. Putting the ketchup bottle to the side I reassemble the burger and take a bit, the cold meat leaks grease over the sides of my mouth and the taste leaves a bitter taste that pairs well with the tang of the ketchup and the sweet juice of the red tomatoes. I sigh happily as I eat, the freedom and the people are liberating after so long in captivity. Though I haven't been able to talk to anyone but Sans or Toriel, at least they were here and real.

After completing my meal and drinking only half the bottle of water I drift to sleep slowly, the darkness of my eyelids tinged blue with the light of the mushrooms being replaced by a dream.

Frisk - Blood, its all I see and its all around me. I'm covered in it and a strange gray dust. Snow frosts the ground all around me, not white but stained red in a perfect circle around me and on the edges of the circle six objects placed evenly around the blood-red snow. Directly in front of me is a blue jacket, folded neatly. To the left of the jacket rests a scarf, folded just as the jacket is, and to the right is a still steaming slice of Butterscotch-Cinnamon pie. Glancing around the circle I see a helmet made for a fish sitting across from the scarf, a white lab coat with a small picture of an anime cat resting on the fabric across from the helmet, and finally the red spear plunged into the ground directly behind me. Each object represented my friends and around each dust was piled then sprinkled in the space between them. Snow had frozen over some of the dust, but it seemed fresh somehow.

A low chuckle run in the empty space around me and I glance up, tears forming in my eyes, "They're dead, you know?" a low voice sings musically in my ears. "Sans was the hardest to kill, but you know that." The voice says and I shake my head, denying what I'm being told. The wretched voice's laughter echos in my ears, making me feel sick to my stomach and I squeeze my eyes tightly shut.

"-sk..." a soft male voice breaks through the laughter, bringing me starkly back to reality. "Frisk!" he shouts at me, and I open my eyes to see the worried face of Sans the Skeleton inches from mine. His skull is flushed blue with emotion as he grips my shoulders tightly.

"I th-thought you didn't think I really was her..." I try to joke with him, the dream had already faded but the fear it left still felt cold in my core. Suddenly I am pulled into a tight embrace by the skeleton and I feel him shaking slightly, making my eyes water.

"I never thought that kid, I just...I don't know..." Sans trailed off and he let go of me, pulling back and putting an embarrassed hand on his forehead. "I came in and you were...I got so scared Frisk. I can't lose you again..." Sans trailed off and this time it was me pulling him into a tight hug.

"I'm not leaving, Sans. I don't know what happened before, but I refuse to go back."


	8. Chapter 8

Sans - My body shoots upright from sleep, eye sockets slowly adjusting to darkness of my bedroom and the stream of crystal light filtering through a slit in the dark purple curtains covering my window lets the process happen smoothly. Clammy moisture dots my brow bone and I realize after a few moments that the easy, natural movement of breathing stopped and I begin the unnecessary action again with a deep inhale of frigid air.

Swinging my femurs to the left I drag the remaining bones in both legs off the bed and stand swiftly, grabbing my coat and shrugging it on over the large white shirt and baggy shorts I wear to bed almost every day. By the door a familiar and warm pair of slippers wait for me, neatly set aside to the left of the door. I sweep two eye sockets across the empty space of what one calls a bedroom, searching for anything else I might need before rushing out into the half frozen slosh covering Snowdin. Unnatural breath puffs between my teeth as I breathe heavily, reeling from the dream that plagued my thoughts on this night.

Frisk's panicked face still hung before me, and I tried to dispel the vision with gusto not wanting to feel what I had felt nor see what was seen. I was inside Frisk's mind, seeing what it was like for her. The crushing darkness, indescribable loneliness, and then the blood. The red streaks of her dream and what they meant when combined with the symbols of all my friends and myself, it meant _he_ was there...or at least a small fragment of him remained. However, the thing that ran across my mind the most was me and how I had reacted in my own dream. The panic _I_ showed, the desperation that _I_ had, the relief that _I_ had felt were so real and I couldn't know if it were truth or a falsehood conjured up by my own subconsciousness.

My feet crushed snow below me and I rushed forward, not knowing where I was going but knowing only that I do have to _go._ I pass the welcome sign to Snowdin and stop for a moment, recalling what words were spoken in the dream...

'I can't lose you again...' is what I had said to Frisk, and I knew I meant it. Dream or no dream, I truly don't want to see Frisk disappear again. If she does leave I don't know what I will do. Papyrus had moved to the surface a long time ago, supporting the metal tin head Mettaton in his dream of fame topside. Toriel had moved there with Asgore a few years after the disappearance, claiming that living in the ruins reminded her of Frisk too much, and I tended to agree. Even Grillby has plans to move shop within the year's end. If Frisk disappeared again, I would have nothing left.

' _Wait..._ ' I think to myself, 'Would _I have nothing left?_ ' I pondered to myself, surprised at the thought that my life revolved around a girl I only had known for such a short time before she vanished into thin air. Another thought pops into my head then, ' _what proof do I have that this_ is _Frisk?'_ But I know the truth, in my bones...no my Soul I know. This _is_ Frisk, and there's no doubt lingering there nor was there ever. Frisk's Soul had been pure from the time she pulsed into existence again, and yet I still locked her away in that dark cave anyways. _The cave!_ Cold fear presses against my bones and lock out rational thought as panic shoots through my bones and I launch into a hard sprint, rocking the wooden bridge and flying past the snow poff field in a blur of motion and skidding around the corner at the edge of the field with a smooth slide. I rocket my way down the path, patella rattling violently with the harsh movements of my legs back and forth. I reach the cave entrance and hastily enter the mushroom code.

The door opens swiftly and a cold sweat beads on my brow bone and slides down my spinal cord at the sight before me. Frisk thrashes around in sleep, blood smeared around the floor and covering her left leg in red. Before I can process anything I'm at her side, holding her tightly and calling her name frantically. I repeat her name, trying to summon her mind forth and awaken her, and I shake her. When her brown eyes open to look at me I see fear, agony, and loneliness deep in their depths and I can finally admit it out loud that this girl is important to me in a way I don't exactly know yet.

"I th-thought you didn't think I really was her..." She says shakily, a hint of humor trying to mask the fear and I let myself relax back, releasing her shoulders and putting a hand to my face.

"I never thought that kid, I just..." I say as the adrenaline fades from my bones and I shake gently with relief. "I don't know..." My voice is wavering slightly so I steady myself with a deep breath.

"I came in and you were...I got so scared Frisk. I can't lose you again..." I rush out, admitting more to myself than to her and trying to make sense of what was rattling around in my skull at that moment. I pulled the thin girl into a tight embrace, feeling the warmth of her and the softness of her flesh against my bones. A soft tickle of warmth brushed my neck as Frisk told me she wouldn't leave before feeling the gentle hug in return I received, enveloping me in her warmth and the soft scent of grease and vanilla.

Sorry for taking so long to upload this chapter, life and stuff. Let me know if there's any suggestions you have for the story/other stories or just if you have things you'd like me to write.

\- Anonymously Yours


	9. Chapter 9

Frisk - Sans' arms feel warm and soothing around me, calming me. The nightmare fades to a blur after a few moments and soon I can't even remember what it was about. I just felt sad and knew it was my fault. Once I had stopped shaking Sans released me, letting support myself. He drew back a little and I felt a pressure on my leg. My eyes looked down and that's when I saw all the blood. It was smeared across the ground, walls, my pants and legs, Sans' hands and jacket. The blood was everywhere, oozing out of cuts on my Sans' bone fingers pressed into one of the cuts a sharp shoot of pain made me gasp. I clinched my teeth as he dug around in the wound, groaning to let him know that whatever he was doing hurt! Sans pulled something out and showed it to me, a small rock that had stuck itself into my skin.

"I think...we should move you." Was all the skeleton said to me before sliding his hands under my legs and around my back, picking me up with ease. I grunted between clenched teeth at the pain this caused me, tears springing unwarranted to my eyes.

"I know it hurts, but I can take care of you easier at the house." Sans pushed through the door to the little cave and walked briskly through the snowy part of the Underground to his house in Snowdin. Passing the shop and inn made me remember the family that owned them both. The place I started to learn about this strange new world from more than just Toriel. Thinking of these people, Toriel especially, made me feel a pang of longing. I missed them, each monster I had met that day. I let my eyes wander as Sans walked, and soon saw Grillby's restaurant glowing in the distance.

"Can we go to Grillby's?" I ask, my voice soft as I voiced the random request. "Later." Sans' reply was curt but I could tell he didn't mean it to be rude. Sans was just focused on our situation at this moment. With each step I grew a bit uneasy, there were factors that I hadn't thought about. Did Papyrus know I was back? Did Sans actually believe that I was me? For that matter, who else could I be?

What had happened in the 10 years that had passed? Sans seemed to have aged a bit more than I thought he should have. His bones were still the pale yellow-ish white they had been when we first me, but now they seemed a bit more dried out and the laugh creases had some how smoothed into frown lines. My hand reached up to place two fingers lightly on his temple, feeling the slight warmth and softness as I traced a minute fracture

I could feel the whites of Sans' eye sockets on me and turned my gaze to meet them. My heart pounded in my ears loud enough I was sure Sans could hear and looked away quickly. That was when I noticed that we had stopped moving. Apparently my awkward timing had been perfect because the little wooden cottage stood before me. The wreath and colored strings lights had been taken down and the pair of mail boxes sat cold and empty to the right of the building.

The house was darkened and the groomed exterior had become withered by age and weather. The light colored wooden planks were now a damp, muted brown with chips broken off in odd places. The posts holding the covering above the front door looked sad without the red and green lights warming their wood. However, it was still the same house I had grown to love in such a short time.

A soft cough from above me brings my attention to the slightly blue face of Sans. His eyes are off to the distance and I see my hand curled slightly with fingers touching his boney cheek.

"Do you think you can stand? I need to find my keys."

I nod and shift to get down myself but Sans grips my legs and back tighter as he tilts me so my bare feet place against the cold concrete steps in front of his door. "Don't move too much, it'll make it harder to get those rocks out." Sans looked at me for a second before plunging his keys into the dark lock and twisting. Two soft clicks and a rattle from the door knob let us inside. The house is warm and lights up with a flick of a switch by Sans. I start to follow but a shooting pain in my knee stops me. Sans is by my side in an instant, lifting me gently and carrying me to the couch.

"I told you not to move." Sans seemed irritated and I could feel a tightening in my chest that had once told me that magic was in the air.

Sans set me on the black couch, resting my head on a large, blue pillow and propped my legs up with a second, slightly smaller one. I watched as Sans left the living room and into the open kitchen, my eyes lingering on the doorway for a moment before looking about the room. It was the same as when I had joined Papyrus for our "date" but it was also greatly changed. The couch faced the eastern wall, sitting near the stairs, and was a lush black piece made of leather. In addition to the pillows it had a knit blanket draped over the arm and down the length of the cushions which I now laid on. The television had been removed and in its place was a nice faux fireplace that flickered warmly with its fake flames. The dining table was still placed near the kitchen, a vase with plucked echo flowers sat squat in the middle. Two chairs on either side of the table were tucked neatly underneath to provide the diners a place to sit while they ate.

A tall bookshelf stood proudly across from the fireplace, adorned with several different colored books of all shapes and sizes. Where the books fell short of the end there were some trinkets, a bone Papyrus had once used in his great and fabled "Blue Attack," a small figurine of a dog, of the annoying variety, and then another vase that was empty except for some decorative stones arranged to be pleasing to the eye.

The upstairs was exactly the same, however the door to Papyrus' room was bare except for a door hanger that I couldn't read from my vantage point. The piece of artwork hung on the wall, bonely as ever - I had to give a small chuckle at that ridiculous pun - and Sans' door sat on the other side of it. The doors to either room seemed lonely somehow. They seemed to sag on their hinges and lean against the frames, crying out for some dear love and warmth.

"You don't gotta worry about Paps. He moved to the surface with Mettaton a while back." I sat up slightly, startled, my eyes quickly finding Sans standing over me with a glass of water in one hand and a small white box in the other. His eyes were upturned to Papyrus' blank door. When his eyes met mine I could see a little hint of the loneliness in the house, in him. "I brought you some water and a pain tablet." Sans handed me the glass which I cradled between my hands and then accepted a small, round pill from him.

I dutifully downed the tablet and watched as Sans plucked small fragments of rock from the cuts on my leg. Wiping the area with a cloth that smelled heavily of sanitizing alcohol and wrapping me up with a tight, white gauze once the little bowl he had clinked with sharp pebbles. With the problem taken care of Sans leans back on his hands, pressing his boney derriere into the plush carpet and closing his eyes.

"That should do it, feel better kid?" Sans opens one socket to peer at me, it resembled the old Sans so much that I almost teared up. The use of my nickname and that lazy-bones position made him look almost 10 years younger, and made me feel like nothing had changed. Of course it had, everything had. I couldn't deny that, but for now I could at least pretend. I quickly bobbed my head up and down in affirmative, a short gesture but a well understood one, and our little moment stopped.

Sans pushed himself to his feet with a slight groan and creaking of bones, placing a hand on my head and ruffling my scraggly hair. Without a word Sans pulled the blanket around me - it was longer than I expected - and walked back to the kitchen. I watched Sans walk away and felt a slight twinge of…something as my eyes traced the line of his shoulders down his arms, saw how his hands rested so casually in the slightly opened pockets of the well-used jacket. The shape of his skull in profile stood proudly when he turned, sharp edges melding with the soft curves. I could only imagine how they must feel when- My mind stopped there as I caught myself. "What am I thinking?" I had to mentally shake myself to keep my mind focused on not going back down that path. Although I didn't quite mind thinking about that.

 _'''Thank you to Saphire000000 & Othos for pointing out our formatting error on Ch. 9's upload. We hope this update has fixed this, and that it won't happen again in the future. We do, however, thank all of you for sticking by us through these times of sporadic uploads and incorrect formatting. With things happening it has been difficult to keep up with many aspects of life and hobbies. We are trying to regulate many things, including our ability to bring this story to you. _

_-Anonymously yours. '''_


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